Jeremy, you have a way of making things EVEN WORSE when you ought to be silent.
For the British to execute an American is EVEN WORSE than executing a Canadian.
Why didn't you just shut up about it?
"William Joyce" was his name, and he was actually hanged on January 3. 1946.

"He was born in the United States in 1906, the son of a naturalised American citizen and thereby became himself a natural-born American citizen."

The fact that Joyce was the son of an American citizen was irrelevant in his case, and if you are who you claim you are (the graduate of a law school), you should know what is relevant and what is irrelevant. Also, as much interaction as goes one between the United States and the United Kingdom, you should know the bare bones of what our Consitution says. Issues about immigration, naturalization, and citzenship come up regularly between British people and the Federal Government of the United States.

The fact that Joyce was born in New York City in the United States is the important issue, and it matters not an iota what the citizenships of his parents were.

I am assuming that I am refreshing your memory about the first sentence of our 14th Amendment -- but on the other hand, the probability is high that you don't know anything about it because you have never read it:

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Joyce was born in New York City, and he was subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, hence he was a native-born American citizen.

People who were born here but NOT subject to the jurisdiction of the United States include the following:

1. Children of the staffs of foreign embassies and consulates in the U.S. Their parents are guests here who are not subject to American jurisdiction. The U.S. had more diplomats here than any other country does, and especially since the headquarters of the United Nations is in New York City.

2. Likewise, children of foreign military personnel who are serving here. You might be surprised at how many there are, but we have foreign students at West Point, the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, the Coast Guard academy, the several training colleges of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, and dozens of other schools for enlisted men. Also, there are scores of members of the Canadian Forces who serve on the staff of NORAD, which has its headquarters in Colorado. For example, the Deputy Commander of NORAD is always a Canadian officer, and he brings Canadians here to assist him, along with the Americans on his staff.

3. The United States is the home of many other important organizations such as the Interntional Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, and INTELSAT. Those organizations have staff members who come here from dozens of foreign countries. Once again, their children, born here, are not under the jurisdiction of the United States so they do not get automatic citizenship here by birth.

In any case, you should have at least a nodding acquaintance with these important things in our Consitution that have to do with international relations. You do not, and therefore I have decided that you are a phony. There are hundreds of thousands of other phonies like you who make up wild tales about their backgrounds, and it is oftern easy to see right though them.
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I could claim to be a graduate of the Royal Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia -- but that would not be true. I might be able to flim-flam people for a while.
In truth, all of my education has been in the United States, and I have never studied anywhere else. I have never resided anywhere else.
I have been to school in lot of different places, often working part-time and studying part-time, and sometimes transfering some credits from one university to another to get a degree. Oh, well, I have studied in three Southern states, plus in Missouri, plus in California.
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If I said that I had studied in Great Britain, Canada, Germany, Greece, Australia, Russia, or Japan, I would be lying - but I don't do that.
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I have had the privilege of studying under professors who came here frro China,
Greece, India, Pakistan, and Russia -- in addition to dozens of Americans, but that is a different story.
D.A.W.

Dates of Independence from the U.K. for selected places in the Americas:
BELIZE rather recenlty celebrated the 31st anniversary of its independece on Sept. 21, 1981

Guyana - Independent on May 26, 1966
Guyana became a republic on Feb. 23, 1970. This means that Guyana stopped being a monarchy.
The Bahamas - Independent on July 10, 1973
Grenada - Independent on Feb. 7, 1974
Belize - Independent on Sept. 21, 1981

The United States - Declared Independence in July 4, 1776
Surrender of the British Army at Yorktown, Virginia - October 19, 1781
Independence recognized by the Treaty of Paris of 1783

Once again, Jeremy, you make comments that are beside the point.

Just read up on the characrter called "Lord Haw Haw" who made hundreds of propaganda broadcasts to Britain for Nazi Germany. Granted, that was definitely not a good thing, and it smacks of criminal activity - I understand this.

Howver, Haw Haw had the passport and all of the other documents of a Canadian citizen, and via the Statute of Westminister, Canada was already an independent, self-governing country with the privileges of carrying out its own internal and external affairs, such as in issuing biirth certificates and passports. Canada already had its own foreign embassies, with the very first one being established in Washington, D.C.

Canada had the right to declare war or not to declare war, and in this case, the Canadian Parliament did not declare war on Nazi Germany until September 10, 1939, If the Canada Canadian government had decided to wait longer - or not to declare war at all - then it could have. Actually, the Province of Quebec was very much against declaring war - even though Hitler was makling war against France.

Then a compromise was reached on September 10th. Quebec went along with the declaration of war with the understanding that conscripts would not be sent overseas, except to Newfoundland. All of the Canadians who were sent overseas to fight had to be volunteers (Army or Air Force, and the Navy stayed in the Western Atlantic).
This situation remained in effect until the second half of 1944, when there were a large number of casualties in France, and the Canadian Parliament agreed that conscripts would be sent overseas to replace them in France & Belgium.

Back to Lord Haw Haw. The British government captured, tried, convicted, and hanged him in the second half of 1945. This all happened despite the fact that Haw Haw had a Canadian passport and the British Government didn't have any jurisdiction over him. Haw Haw should have been extradited to Canada and put on trial there.

Here in the United States, we are very careful about jurisdiction. Our Constitution says that someone who is charged with a Federal crime, MUST be tried in a Federal court in the same area of the same state where the crime alledgedly was committed.
For example, if someone is charged with a Federal crime that was allegedly committed in New Jersey, our Attorney General cannot "shop around" for a favorable court in Texas or anywhere else. That trial must be held in New Jersey.

By doing so, the defendent does not have to travel to a faraway court he has ready access to witnesses and evidence in his defense; and he can get a local attorney of his choice -- and one whom is easy for him to visit and talk to.

Haw Haw couldn't have done worse by being tried in Canada -- at least he might not have been executed. Rather than that, he might have been convicted in Canada and then sent to prison for 30 years. He might have become eligible for parole at some time. He could have filed appeals in Canadian courts, and he MIGHT have had his sentence reduced.

In England he was rapidly hanged by the neck until he was dead, dead, dead, and then there was no possibility for him to file for appeals, was there?

D.A.W.

You need to check again. Belize has been an independent country for a long time now, just as Guyana and Trinidad have been. I also said to exclude all independent countries - e.g. Canada.

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands do not count since they are uninhabited. I told you why to exclude Antarctica. In fact I said to exclude all places with a permanent population less than 40.
Most of those islands in the British Indian Ocean Territory are uninhabited or nearly so. Remember that the whole subject was about BRITISH PEOPLE.

I would hate to have you for my attorney, and I would NOT put up with it, because YOU DO NOT LISTEN.
In addition, you habitually make statements that are besides the point. I think that you should be very careful about writing about things like that. Whatever the legal association over there is, you could get into trouble with it if it ever finds out. .

When I said" Even if their sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II" it was clear that I was talking about places that are close to Great Britain.

Stating that the inhabitants of the Channel Islands are not British is an exercise in hair-splitting, up with which I shall not put.
We also do not care if they do not have the right to reside in Switzerland or Spain. That is completely besides the point.

If people who live on the Channel Islands or the Isle of Mann commits high treason against the British Government, such acts will surely be punished severely, one way or another. One way or another. In 1945, the British Government tried, convicted, and hanged a man for high treason. The big problem was that he was not a British subject, but rather a Canadian.

It he was accused of collaborating with the Nazis, he should have been extradited to Canada and then put on trial there.

D.A.W.

To: Rich:
As we know, "Almost finished" and "Not finished" have nearly opposing definitions, therefore proving the construction "all but..." to be terrible!
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That statement is not a sane one.
"Almost finished" and "not finished" really do mean the same thing.

If some process or some piece of work is missing even one iota from being finished, then it is NOT finished. It could still be "almost finished".

If a surgeon operated on you and he/she did everything except for putting in one stitch, then our conclusion would have to be NOT finished (or unfinished).

You could suffer dearly from that missing stitch. You could bleed a lot.
The reasonable verdict would be "Guilty of medical malpractice."
DAW

Once again, we see the case of a longer word taking the place of a shorter word that does make sense and is unambiguous.
As Dr. McCoy said to Commander Spock, "Where is the logic in that?"

Personally, I cannot see the reason for overlooking the question of "efficient" vs. "inefficient". Why should someone going back to dig in the 14trh century when RIGHT NOW we should know which one is efficient and which is inefficient?

It is seen that in American English, we do have a stronger trend toward efficient expressions than inefficient ones, though I am impatient and I do not see it happening rapidly enough.

Calling the place "THE WHITE HOUSE" was a big step by eleminating "The President's Mansion" and other similar ones.
D.A.W.

The small, metallic pyramidical cap on the very top of the Washington Monument was made of aluminum back in the years before that metal could be make by the Hall - Herout process (invented in 1886). That was back when aluminum was a semiprecious metal.
Do not get confused about the larger pyramid that forms most of the top of the Washington Monument. That is made mostly of stone, and the aluminum part is just the tip-top of it.
That aluminum tip is solidly-grounded via copper wires from the top of the Monument to its foundations. That was a good idea, too, because the top of the Washington Monument has been struck by lightning many times. Aluminum is an excellent conductor of electricity.

The tip of the Washington Monument gets struck by lightning regularly, just as the top of the Empire State Building and the Sears Tower do.
D.A.W.

According to the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry), the official spelling of SULFUR is as I have just spelled it.
Likewise: "sulfuric acid", "hydrogen sulfide", "sulfur and dioxide".
However, I think that this is something of hair-splitting, and we should be prepared to handle it either way. Also, COMPUTERS should be programmed to accept either one.

D.A.W. .

Oops, DISCOVERY -- which was also the name of the huge spaceship in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.
D.A.W.

Speaking of astronauts, the famous American astronaut Sally Ride has recently died of abdominal cancer. She was only in her early 60s, too.

Dr. Ride was the first American woman to take a flight into outer space, and she made a total of two flights. She was scheduled to make her third flight, but the the CHALLENGER blew up in January 1986, and Dr. Ride's next flight was cancelled.

One of the astronauts who was killed in the CHALLENGER was the second American woman astronaut, Dr. Judith Resnick, who was a real favorite of mine because her doctorate was in electrical engineering, and I just thought that she was a cool person, too.

Three of the Space Shuttles were named for British sailaing ships of of exploration: the CHALLENGER, the DISOVERY, and the ENDEAVOUR. (Notice the correct spelling of "Endeavour", the name of the ship.)

D.A.W.